Cton, Silver Tree Publishing House.
With a heavy crash, a potbellied middle aged man flew out of the owner’s office and smashed onto a desk. He lost consciousness cleanly on the spot.
The editors of the publishing house crouched against the wall with pale faces, clutching their heads and not daring to move.
Inside the office, Soros threw a black covered novel in front of the owner. Beneath his cold expression, danger stirred.
"Who is the author of this book?"
"Huh?"
The owner had thought these two were here to rob him. For a moment, he could not react, and the password to the safe had almost slipped out of his mouth.
When he came back to himself and looked at the book, he recognized it at once. It was the current bestselling novel published by their company, Old Gods.
West District, Number 57.
Geraldine answered Caelum’s question in an extremely objective and rational tone.
"Science is not faith. In my view, in this universe there are only things already understood and things waiting to be understood. Do not become arrogant because you understand something. Do not deny something because it is unknown. Studying and understanding all things with that attitude is true science."
Caelum set down the novel in his hand.
"Then do you think the indescribable existences in this book can be understood by humanity and included within the scope of science?"
"They are purely fantasy. A fictional story, a fictional world, fictional existences. Precisely because They cannot be understood by humans, They can be called ultimate fear."
"In other words, Their very existence is anti science?"
"Objectively speaking, I believe everything is possible. Humanity is so tiny beneath this starry sky. Science only has meaning to humans. To this starry sky and this world, existence is existence. Whether it is science or anti science does not matter. The universe itself has no need for meaning."
At this point, Geraldine shifted the direction of the conversation.
"You have been trying to connect the contents of the book to reality. Does that mean you believe everything I described in it?"
Caelum asked in return, "As the author of this book, do you believe what you wrote?"
"Let me state it again. This is only pure fantasy, Caelum. If you truly think that way, then it seems I have successfully created a new belief system."
Quite the opposite.
Caelum did not think this world had come into being because of Geraldine. Rather, some great existence was attempting to achieve an unknown purpose through Geraldine’s hand.
Without question, it had to be an ancient god.
The intuition of Stage Two of the Investigator Sequence was almost like foreseeing the future. Although Caelum could not directly see future images, he could form an extremely strong premonition about what was about to happen.
Geraldine’s luck tonight might not be very good.
Something interesting was about to happen.
Click.
The sound of the lighter opening was crisp and pleasant.
Caelum took out a cigarette, lit it, and left directly.
"Miss Geraldine, I hope you sleep well tonight."
"What does that mean?"
Geraldine could not help wondering.
Sheriff Marbury had been standing quietly beside them, listening to the two talk at length. Now he finally spoke again.
"You two are not really expecting me to close this case as suicide, are you?"
"That is the answer, Sheriff Marbury."
Geraldine left after saying that.
Sheriff Marbury thought of the giant rat in the slums, and suddenly felt that this world had become somewhat unfamiliar.
Compared with that thing, the case before him seemed much more reasonable.
Suicide, then.
In any case, the two smartest people in Cton had given the same answer. Even if the higher ups wanted to make trouble, Sheriff Marbury had enough reason to defend himself.
Geraldine came from the upper noble class of the kingdom.
Although she often attended noble banquets, she did not like the quiet and empty West District. Because of that, she had moved alone to the East District.
The environment here naturally could not compare with the West District, but it was lively enough, and it allowed her to see all kinds of lives.
To become a qualified detective, one could never stay far from the bottom.
And in such an environment, inspiration for her writing flowed without end.
Night.
East District, Florence Street, Number 99.
Orange light spilled from a second floor window, casting a figure onto the curtain. Geraldine was focused on writing the new installment of Old Gods.
In the night, two figures appeared on the street.
The cool evening wind brushed past, stirring the hems of their clothes. Their dull footsteps came closer and closer.
In the end, they stopped in front of Number 99.
Soros asked, "What is the situation inside?"
Javier answered without thinking.
"One landlord, three tenants. Two of them should be bodyguards. Three revolvers, five cylinders, thirty bullets in total."
This was their first time here.
They had not even gone inside, yet Javier already knew everything inside Number 99 clearly.
Clearly, Caelum was not the only player who had stepped onto a secret potion path and obtained Sequence power.
Soros and Javier from the hostile system also possessed extraordinary power.
Soros was Stage Two of the Night Watcher Sequence.
Javier was Stage Two of the Prophet Sequence.
Compared with a path like the Investigator Sequence, which had no combat power, the Night Watcher Sequence and Prophet Sequence possessed formidable fighting strength.
Javier took out a notebook and wrote something on it. Then, with a muffled sound, he closed it.
The two of them walked into Number 99.
At once, a power darker than night quietly spread.
Like ink falling into water, it expanded rapidly, staining even the darkness around it.
Number 99 sank into endless black, as if it had become the abyssal mouth of a monster, capable of swallowing everything whole.
The yellow light flickered again and again, then went out completely.
Inside Number 99, the silence seemed cut off from the rest of the world, unsettling in a way that made the skin tighten.
Geraldine was surprised.
"A power outage?"
Suddenly, firm leather shoes struck the floor.
Her brows drew together at once.
No guest would choose to visit at midnight, much less arrive exactly when the power went out.
Geraldine pulled open the drawer, took out a revolver, and aimed it at the door. Her calm was almost like that of a soldier who had served in the army.
If a stranger pushed the door open, she would definitely pull the trigger.
But things did not develop as she expected.
Before Geraldine’s eyes, an even deeper darkness suddenly surged into the already dim room.
Strange, twisted things like tentacles wrapped around her in an instant and dragged her into the tide of black matter.
Geraldine’s eyes widened.
Her gaze was full of disbelief.
What was this?
After a brief flash of panic, she pulled the trigger decisively before she was swallowed.
The loud gunshot echoed inside the room, yet could not escape beyond Number 99.
This place had clearly been sealed off from the outside world.
Before losing consciousness, Geraldine saw Caelum’s figure flash through her mind.
The crisp sound of a lighter opening seemed to echo beside her ear again.
He had lit a cigarette.
"Miss Geraldine, I hope you sleep well tonight."